Noisy tour group creates more anti-foreigner controversy online
It's getting a bit old honestly, and I hope that the Thai people that end up seeing these locally viral videos take it with a grain of salt as well because creating an anti-foreigner sentiment in a country that genuinely needs outside travel and investment to maintain their GDP is not a good idea. The two cannot co-exist.
Now in this recent video, which went viral on TikTok, features Thai woman who sounds youngish, berating a group of foreign teenagers or 20-somethings who were doing what people that age do generally, and that was being a bit noisy on public transport.
They were not being aggressively loud and were only talking to one another but there were a lot of them and well, a lot of teenagers have a tendency to get loud. I know this is true with Thai kids as well since my high school level classrooms require a lot of "crowd control" in order to keep the noise levels down.
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The BTS is the skytrain in Bangkok and the suggestion that it is always quiet on this train, as the headline would suggest, is true. Thai people generally are quite polite in situations like this so the woman is not wrong. However, her filming them rather than talking to them would have made me upset as well and that is what happened with this group. One of the students said "he is not 18 you cannot film him" which is such a foreigner or perhaps USA sort of thing to say. Yes you can film him you dolt.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gxIHg1NG1Kg
I don't necessarily recommend that you watch all of that but if you do, you will see that both parties are at fault. The youth should try to keep it down but have you ever tried to control a large group of teenagers? Unless they are super conditioned like the Japanese are, this is a very tough thing to pull off.
The group says at one point in the video that they don't know what their stop is and need to coordinate with one another about which stop to get off at and this is fair enough, but they were being a lot louder than they need to be.
This clip is making the rounds a lot more than I would like to see it doing so but I suppose there could be a silver lining here: maybe other young people will take this clip as a warning or perhaps they were unaware that the train culture here is one of quiet or just whispering or talking with a low volume if you need to speak at all.
I'll admit that the lack of noise is part of what makes the BTS and the underground version of it so much nicer than other places public transport and I definitely don't want that to change.
I just hope that a bunch of people don't do something stupid like start to hate on all foreigners because of the actions of a few. This incident is really minor compared to others that I have posted and it seems as though the bar has been lowered as far as what is viral-worthy... These days it seems as though people are posting just whatever and the anti-foreigner sentiment continues to grow.
nobody will win if that is the end result
Public transport sure as hell isn't quiet over here. I think the Vietnamese culture is one of being as loud as possible at all times.
Thai culture is pretty noisy as well. I don't know why the trains in BKK seem to be an exception to this but I like it
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STOPI think you have to read the room and understand the cultures wherever you are travelling. Youngsters generally these days do not necessarily have the manners that previous generations have had and even though it may seem minor it can be problematic.
I think this idea about younger people having less respect than the previous generation is pretty universal going all the way back to the beginning of time :)
Could be true as we all get older we notice this .
This was an interesting read because I can understand both perspectives. Public transport is definitely more pleasant when everyone respects the quiet atmosphere, especially after a long day. At the same time, a group of young people getting a little loud isn't something unique to foreigners—it happens everywhere. What worries me more is how a single incident can quickly turn into a stereotype about an entire group of people. Social media often amplifies these moments far beyond what they deserve. I hope this serves as a reminder for visitors to be mindful of local customs, while also reminding people not to judge every foreigner based on the actions of a few. Balance and understanding go a long way.
that's a good take on this situation. Social media certainly does amplify anything and blows it out of proportion. These days I think it is unfortunately become quite popular to blame any issues on some member of an outside group.
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I think it's just being understanding to each other. I understand the teens might be coordinating with each other about their stop and you mentioned they are a large group, so yeah I think the woman should have enquired about the matter first, offered help, and let them know that BTS is usually peaceful and they might be showing disrespect to other passengers.